The work of Marblehead artist Joyce Bartlett will be featured in this year’s Maudslay Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, which runs from Sept. 10 through Oct. 1 at Maudslay State Park in Newburyport.
The reception and self-guided tour will be held at the park on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 2-5 p.m. Look for the reception tables and please dress appropriately for a walk in the park. At 6 p.m. we invite everyone to Riverwalk Brewery to see the photo exhibit, meet the artists, and join us in celebration.
For 24 years, Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay has provided a dynamic, non-juried exhibition featuring local artists and community members interested in sharing their unique understanding of the world through site-specific sculptures. The annual show, which has produced over 900 works of art, is open to all artists with a connection to the North Shore and Merrimack Valley region and is organized by participating artists who volunteer their time and materials.
Reflecting upon the desire to explore material boundaries, concepts, and themselves, this year’s group of 50 artists chose “fracture” as the theme.
Participants include a poet laureate, a stone sculptor, a high school math teacher, a retired art teacher, a goat herder, a computer game designer, at least two graphic designers, a store owner, an author/illustrator, three homeschooled students, a bass player, a Reiki healer, a former town selectman, two web designers, a yoga instructor, a machine builder, a structural engineer, a ceramics engineer, three architects, a city planner, a landscaper, a multimedia composer/musician, and many more.
Artistic mediums will vary, but most art and building materials you can imagine will be creatively represented one way or another.
Printed catalogs will be available in artistic mailboxes at the two main entrances to the park. Trailhead signs will provide instructions for downloading a simple virtual catalog, including the map, photos of each piece, artist’s statements, and their bios.
“Site Specific: 20 Years of Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay,” written by Maudslay artist and author Joyce Audy Zarins and designed by Lynn and Jay Havighurst of Artfluence in Essex, creators of the cover art and posters for the show each year, was published two years ago and is available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Site-Specific-Years-Outdoor-Sculpture-Maudslay/dp/0578702711) and at Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport. Many of the artists featured will be participating in this show.
Winner of a 2005 Gold Star Award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay has been recognized as a model community art project celebrating quality, accessibility, diversity, and collaboration. Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay is supported in part by grants from the Amesbury, Georgetown, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, and West Newbury cultural councils, local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
For further information, please visit our website at https://www.maudslaysculpture.org, check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SculptureAtMaudslay/, or contact Zarins at 978-270-3258 or jaz@joyceaudyzarins.com.